Category: Transportation
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One of the World’s Stupidest Inventions Now Illegal in Virginia
Who says Virginia’s polarized legislature can’t get anything done? Governor Glenn Youngkin has signed a bill banning the vehicle modification known as “Carolina Squat.” The law was inspired by the death of Virginian BJ Upton in a car accident involving such a vehicle. The modification raises the front of the vehicle significantly higher than the…
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What Virginia Can Do to Temper Inflation
by James A. Bacon Governor Glenn Youngkin has proposed using $437 million in unanticipated transportation revenues, much of it generated by the wholesale tax on gasoline, to give Virginians a three-month break on the 26-cent retail gasoline tax. During his campaign, Youngkin ran on a platform of addressing Virginia’s high cost of living and reversing…
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Remembering Til Hazel
by Ken Reid Northern Virginia is the object of admiration and contempt, in Republican circles, and even among some liberals in economically stagnant Maryland and Washington, D.C. In the last few years, Loudoun County, where I had a political career as a Republican, has gone “blue” as has Prince William and much of Fairfax counties.…
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Metro Not Getting Back on Track Any Time Soon… Says Metro
by James A. Bacon The pre-pandemic financial model for the Washington Metro, the largest mass transit system in Virginia, is not sustainable, and it’s time to re-envision the system to recognize the new traffic patterns, General Paul J. Wiedefeld testified to a Congressional oversight committee yesterday. Metro officialdom is scrambling to plug a another $500…
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Miller Appointed as Transportation Chief
by James A. Bacon Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin has appointed Hampton Roads businessman Sheppard “Shep” Miller III as the next Secretary of Transportation. Youngkin’s press release offered no clues on how his transportation policy goals might differ from those of the outgoing administration. “Shep will be an invaluable leader as Secretary of Transportation as we fulfill…
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Stuck in a Snowstorm: Better to Have a Gas- or Electric-Powered Car?
by James A. Bacon Hundreds of motorists were stranded on Interstate 95 in freezing temperatures last night after two tractor-trailers jackknifed in a snowstorm and triggered a chain reaction as other vehicles lost control. Both lanes of the Interstate were closed. As night fell, reports the Associated Press, motorists posted messages on social media about…
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Tony Downs — an Influencer
Editor’s note: Anthony “Tony” Downs, long-time Virginia resident and scholar at The Brookings Institute, died in October. His thoughts about the economics of transportation had a profound effect on many. by Philip A. Shucet Tony Downs didn’t need social media to be an influencer. Tony published “Stuck in Traffic” in 1992, and in that book,…
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Now California Will Control Virginia’s Auto Sales
By Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Virginia’s automotive sales market is now officially controlled in Sacramento, with the likelihood that no new internal combustion engines can be sold in the Commonwealth after 2035. The Virginia Air Pollution Control Board, acting not with discretion but on orders…
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Welcome to Loudoun – Just Avoid Route 7
by James C. Sherlock Saw this headline in the Washington Business Journal. “Toll Brothers pushes big residential plans in Ashburn — and a tribute to enslaved people who once lived there.” Behind the headline: This is to be a development of 1,300 residences in a project named Mercer Crossing. Since it is being built by…
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TCI is Now Dead. Happy to Have Helped.
by Steve Haner You’re welcome. Well, nobody is likely to thank me actually, but why not take a bow. After Connecticut’s governor announced he would give up on imposing the Transportation and Climate Initiative on his citizens, Massachusetts’ governor made a similar announcement yesterday. Governor Charlie Baker of that state was the driving force behind…
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Another Blue State Bails on Tax-and-Cap TCI, VA Democrats Dig In to Protect Their Green Revolution
by Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. The Governor of Connecticut has abandoned his efforts to enroll that state in the Transportation and Climate Initiative, an interstate compact which would impose a cap, tax and ration scheme on gasoline and diesel fuel. Virginia remains a part of…
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Buckle Your Seatbelts, HUFs and MBUFs Are Coming
by James A. Bacon For once, Virginia’s Virginia’s $8 billion-a-year surface transportation system (roads, highways, bridges, mass transit) is not in crisis. The system is in pretty good shape, and it is well financed, concludes a new Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) report. Recent tax increases bringing in more than $800 million a…
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Bacon Bits: Government Failure, Private Initiative
Will Metro ever get its act together? The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has pulled the 7000 series of rail cars from service after a derailment on the Blue Line and discovery of more than two dozen wheel-assembly defects similar to those that had contributed to the accident, reports the Washington Post. “The potential for…
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Bedlam at Southwest Airlines
by Kerry Dougherty At the risk of sounding like a paid Southwest Airlines P.R. person, I can truthfully say it’s my favorite airline. No change fees. Two bags fly free. Decent fares if you book early enough. Best of all, Southwest flies out of our sad little airport. Those perks are nice, but what impressed…
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Bacon Bits: Bafflement, Confusion… and Hope
What is wrong with this picture? Headline from FFXnow: “Inova temporarily closes urgent care centers in Reston and Tysons due to high patient volume.” On top of an influx of COVID-19 cases fueled by the Delta variant, Virginia hospitals are getting more patients — many of whom had delayed seeking medical care due to the pandemic…